Romney visits state, vows to 'put work back in welfare'

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney shakes hands with Sharon Meroni after his speech Tuesday at Acme Industries in Elk Grove Village. Romney told a group of about 200 factory workers and supporters that President Barack Obama's push for flexibility is "taking the work requirement out of welfare," a claim the Obama campaign rejected. (Stacey Wescott, Chicago Tribune)

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney brought a raging debate over changes in federal welfare-to-work rules to a suburban factory floor Tuesday, contending he would "end a culture of dependency and restore a culture of good hard work."

Romney combined a fundraising trip to President Barack Obama's home state with a new attack on the administration's plan for easing requirements that welfare recipients find work. The move, aimed at giving states more flexibility on welfare programs, was also the subject of a Romney television ad unveiled earlier in the day.

Speaking at Acme Industries in Elk Grove Village, Romney praised the 1996 agreement between Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republicans that limited the time recipients could receive benefits before finding work.

"I hope you understand President Obama in just the last few days has tried to reverse that accomplishment by taking the work requirement out of welfare," Romney told a group of about 200 factory workers and supporters.

"That is wrong. If I am president, I will put work back in welfare. There is nothing better than a good job to help lift a family, to allow people to provide for themselves and end the spread of a culture of dependency. We must include more work in welfare," he said. "We will end a culture of dependency and restore a culture of good hard work."

The Obama campaign quickly fought back, with spokeswoman Lis Smith calling Romney's statements "untrue and hypocritical" and a reflection that the Republican "lacks the core strength and principles the nation needs in a president."

Romney, as Massachusetts governor in 2005, signed a letter along with other Republican governors seeking work waivers from theGeorge W. Bushadministration to gain flexibility over their welfare budgets. Obama's campaign also noted Romney's administration implemented a program paying for taxes, title, fees and insurance to give cars to welfare recipients.

Conservative Republicans say Obama is overstepping his authority by directing the Department of Health and Human Services to consider letting states ease the work requirement to test alternative strategies for getting people back to work. States that receive waivers must show improvement moving people into jobs.

Romney's campaign countered that as governor he vetoed a provision in a Massachusetts bill that would have allowed education and training to substitute for work while he pushed for able-bodied parents of young children to meet the work requirement.

Obama has tried to appeal to middle-class voters by pushing for a continuation of Bush-era tax cuts for income up to $250,000. Romney's push on the welfare-to-work issue may be part of his own attempt to court middle-class, blue-collar voters in a struggling economy.

Romney used his near 20-minute factory speech to again attack Obama for saying last month, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

While Obama has noted he was referring to various forms of governmental assistance, including help from public school teachers, Romney likened it to a student who decides to make the honor roll and succeeds.

"I realize that he got to school on a bus and the bus driver got him there, but I don't give the bus driver credit for the honor roll," Romney said. "I give the kid credit for the honor roll."

The suburban stop came before two fundraisers in downtown Chicago that were expected to bring in more than $2 million.